I’ll be on TV tonight and all this week: The History Channel is airing a show called "Seven Signs of the Apocalypse" at 21:00 Eastern (US) time (but check your local listings). I did what I call a "stand-up interview" for this show: me standing in front of some interesting background while I talk astronomy. In this case, it was asteroid impacts and gamma-ray bursts, two of my fave death-from-the-skies scenarios.

I’ve seen some of the graphics from the show, and they are spectacular. It should be pretty cool, even if couched in an "End Times" framework.

I watched the 2012/nostradamus stuff last night….actually it was on in the background while I read death from the skies. It was pretty bad though…not even a token interview with a real scientist offering a dissenting opinion. huge leaps in logic to explain to the “prophecy”…how anyone can believe some of this stuff is beyond me.

2012 prophecies? I’m guessing a revamp of “earth changes” that were much lauded before the turn of the millennium? Or some paranormal-nerd saying that the earth was gonna increase in gravity thereby pinning everyone to the ground?

I’m wondering when the next Doomsday Year is gonna be, ’cause I’d like to be the first one to tell Doomsday worshipers, “You mean like what happened in 200 and 2012?”

BTW, I second that notion to turn science-based end-of-the-world scenarios.

kuhnigget Says:
“I hope they don’t fill it with that Nostradamus/Mayan calendar crap they’ve been advertising all week.”

Not much worry there, judging by the ad copy on the link Phil provided. Looks more traditional biblical prophesy than new age sap stuff. But leave it to the Hystery Channel to fund some way to link Pyramids, Atlantis, Masons, Paul McCartney death coverup, the Zapruder Film and Ancient Astronauts from Area 51 to Bible prophesy.

The History Channel’s motto seems to be: “Who Needs Truth if it is Dull?”

“Does the Book of Revelations predict things that are happening today? Scientists agree that, yes, if the things in the Book of Revelations happened, the world could end! Nevermind that all of these things have happened before in worse ways, because that would detract from the sensationalistic hand-waving premise of this show!”

I just saw your performance. Great job as always. I love how you come across with such confidence – it gives the impression that you really do know what you are talking about. Your interviews are always a treat.

BTW, I was at Dragon*con and stopped by the skeptics panel–of all the questioners, I was in one of the last panels and asked you about your opinion of shows like MythBusters that you didn’t pay to ask the question. 😉

I just started watching at 25min ’til 9CST, and a check of the show’s info reveals that it is more biblical than your warning. Yack. Phil, I hope you threw some skepticism into your interviews for the viewers that believe in end-times baloney. Hopefully, we’ll get to see you on tomorrow’s ‘Universe’ show!

I hope they don’t fill it with that Nostradamus/Mayan calendar crap they’ve been advertising all week.

The History Channel is really hit and miss with regards to their science. Some of their programs on ancient Egypt have been laughably absurd.

[Rant]

That is the consequence of digital multi-channel commercial broadcasters competing for advertising revenue: they increasingly cater for the lowest common denominator in order to pull in more viewers and, therefore, charge higher fees to the advertiser. That is why we have rubbish like Big Brother and other bloody ‘reality’ programmes on TV!

I was watching the History Channel (actually still am) while doing other stuff and heard a familiar voice, I look up and lo and behold it was Phil Plait! It was pretty amazing and I wanted to see if you made a blog post about it, which you did and now I’m commenting on it. It was pretty awesome seeing you on the tubes!

I have to agree with some of the above, that show was utter garbage. I had to turn it off after about 20 minutes. I understand the need for exposure and all, but I’m surprised you’d lend your services to purveyors of such pap. Didn’t even get a plug for the book (unless it appeared later in the show, I just couldn’t take any more).

I tried to watch it. I really tried. I even did so On Demand so there wouldn’t be any commercials, plus I was bored out of my mind at the time, which me more likely to wade through BS just for something to do. Even with all these factors going for it, I lasted fewer than five (5) minutes. Sweet Zombie Jesus, it was [i]awful[/i].

I predict the end of the world will happen between now and 10^36 years from now. Unfortunatly due to electrostatic interference from the plastic box covering my crystal ball, my psychic powers cannot tell me how it will end. However, I bet it will be an event as explained in Phil’s book.

Joe:
I predict Earth will end(as a planet) when humans decide to dismantle the planet to make more space colonies, in, say, 10^6 years, or so. This will really infuriate the SAVE EARTH NOW people, who have no use for technology, because they’re bio-engineered to live in hard vacuum and hard radiation. For them more space colonies just get in their way,,,

Sadly, their line-up sucks these days, but they’re the only channel (I know of) that shows the Twilight Zone (one of the greatest shows in TV history, IMO). Occasionally, their midday block will include real sci-fi, but that’s also waning.

So where is the big headline? “BAD ASTRONOMY AUTHOR SUPPORTS BIBLICAL PROPHESIES!”

You were on this program about Biblical prophesies and you were talking about asteroid impacts and gamma ray bursts–then by association you were suggesting these events were rooted in Biblical end times.

So much for the Mr Rational Skeptic facade– I’ll bet you are a closet ID’er too!

It bothers me that the History Channel is so religious that it follows up a quote by you to a quote from the Book of Revelations. The implication that your scientific comment might back up that religious nonsense is enough to make me swear off that channel for good.

Battlestar Galactica? Did they drop the religious/New Age hogwash and actually have some science – that “prophecy” crap is why I stopped watching it. Between the miraculous “prophecy”, the magic, and the fact that it seems like every other character is a cylon, is there any science (or anything approaching rationality or even common sense) left?

Well, my oldest son PVR’d it, and watched it today, along with my daughter. He’s 14, she’s 10 (and when I initially tried to type “oldest”, I misspelled it “odest”, which could also be interpreted as as misspelling of “oddest”…)

It was an interesting opportunity, for 3 or 4 times during the show I had my son pause the play back and talked to my kids about the vast leaps or outright errors of logic that were being committed. At one point I proudly listened as my daughter said, “Yeah, and…” and pointed out another logical fallacy.